They Came to Play A Photographic History of Colorado Baseball

Over one hundred and thrifty years ago, pioneers arriving in Colorado during the Civil War era brought the game of baseball to the high and dry Rocky Mountain frontier. From the days of games in pastures with no gloves to the high drama of Coors Field and the Colorado Rockies, baseball and Coloradans have had a love affair that has continued to flourish over the decades. In "They Came To Play," historians and avid baseball fans Duane Smith and Mark Foster have collected the finest historic baseball photographs of teams, players, and games from around the state. They are all here, the town teams, company teams, early professional clubs, and the ethnic teams that made baseball an integral part of the life and times in Colorado's mountain towns, prairie hamlets, and bustling frontier cities. Combined with the wonderful photographs and captions is an essay that brings baseball's rich heritage in Colorado to life for the reader. "They Came To Play" is a uniquely wonderful and valuable addition to Colorado history and baseball history reading lists.Smith, Duane A. is the author of 'They Came to Play A Photographic History of Colorado Baseball', published 1997 under ISBN 9780870814334 and ISBN 0870814338.